A hand rake is used to aid in the clean up and removal of leaves, grass clippings, sticks and other debris from yards and lawns and other areas around a home. In the course of raking, however, the leaves or debris may become lodged in the tines of the rake. As the leaves and debris further accumulate in the tines of the rake, the raking action of the tines will become obstructed, thereby preventing effective use of the rake. The user must then reach down and manually remove the debris from the rake tines. Such manual removal is not only frustrating and time consuming, but may also cause injury to the fingers and hands of the user if prolonged and repetitive.
Self cleaning rakes have long been known in the prior art. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,850,185 to Dimon and U.S. Pat. No. 3,884,023 to Robinson. Such self cleaning rakes typically include a slider bar positioned on the rake so that the tines of the rake extend therethrough, and a means for remotely moving the slider bar along the tines of the rake so that debris will be removed therefrom. The slider bar and associated moving means are fixedly secured to the rake and, as such, may not be adaptable to be retrofitted to a standard rake. Furthermore, even if conventional rake cleaning devices can be retrofitted to a standard rake, substantial modification of the rake may be necessary. In addition, the self cleaning device adds considerable weight to the rake which makes it more difficult and tiresome to use.
In addition to the removal of leaves and debris from yards and lawns and other open areas around a home, it is also desirable to remove leaves, debris, etc. from relatively confined places. For example, leaves may accumulate between closely spaced bushes or shrubs and between such shrubs and the wall of an adjacent structure. Conventional rakes have a relatively broad raking span, however, making it difficult, if not impossible, to effectively rake in such confined spaces.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for improved cleaning of hand rake tines.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for cleaning rake tines that can be easily attached to a standard rake and that will not add excessive weight to the rake.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for cleaning the tines of the rake that can also be used as an auxiliary hand rake in confined spaces.